Fear

Everyone is afraid of something. Whether it's spiders, heights, or public speaking. I recently got the opportunity to see a man who had been to Afghanistan and in multiple firefights, and had been trained as an infantry sniper, give a presentation from note cards with his hands trembling like a woman being proposed to. Fear is a very strange thing. We all fear a lot of things, but there are a few things we fear the most. I'm not talking about a "greatest" fear, but those things that we find ourselves in danger of most often. Disappointing someone we care about, or no longer being as good at something we used to be good at, or, most common of all, being alone.
People have learned to fear dying alone more than they fear dying itself. That's partly because throughout life, we're taught to look at death as the inevitable end, whereas being alone is treated as the thing to be cured or fixed or avoided. They say "there's someone out there for everyone" but the truth is, there isn't. There are well over 6 billion people on the planet. Some people are gay or lesbian, some people have sex with animals. Intentionally. That would mean that there's a horse out there somewhere, just dying to find the right cowboy. The truth is, life is messy, but sometimes the coin lands on it's side, sometimes you find that person you never have a fight with, and you hate their guts, or sometimes you end up with that one you can't stand but you love to death. And sometimes, it's just complicated. People always try and seek out that person that they can be in a "perfect" relationship with but as I always say, "perfection" is an opinion, imperfection is a fact. Everything has flaws, but that doesn't mean that it isn't perfect to someone. But it takes time to find that perfect collection of imperfections. And the fact is, it's not guaranteed.
There's one thing among many other things that's guaranteed in life. And that's that at some point, you're going to be alone. That is what people fear the most. Being alone. They're told to find a "happiness" and are painted a picture of happy couples and wedding rings. They're told that being alone in the end is the worst ending of them all. That the love of another is that one thing they've been missing their whole life and once they have it, they'll be complete.
That is the biggest lie that the media sells to you outside of the fact that it's safe to consume large amounts of chinese food. That shit will kill you. The hardest thing you could ever do will be to learn to be alone.
When you're independent, you learn how to enjoy focus on liking what you see in the mirror and not just what everyone else sees when they look at you. You spend your whole life measuring yourself on how much someone else values you you forget that you could set your own price tag.